Lost weight - in between sizes - what to do?

norris12

So I recently lost 20lbs and am noticing that my clothes are getting really loose. I still plan to lose 50 more pounds and do not know what to do about my current clothes - do I buy more or hang onto to these until I hit my goal weight. I am a teacher, so I have to look half-way decent. The other $$ issue is that my husband is also losing - ever quicker than me and is in the same boat. Oh and by the way, we have 3 kids in college and I am currently finishing my grad degree - in other words, money is a bit tight at the moment (unlike my clothes!). Any suggestions would be wonderful!

Tetonia

Thrift stores and consignment shops are what I did when I knew I had at least 2-3 sizes to go for my goal and I was making steady progress. Where I live there are quite a few. With careful shopping I was able to find very nice things, many even with the original tags on them, for very few $$. I kept my clothing needs to the very basics and washed them a lot. Just a single pair of jeans, 5-6 tops to wear with a classic neutral skirt or dress slacks. No trendy fashion, but I looked nice. I kept wearing my oversize winter coat.

As for keeping clothing that is too big - I really hated clothes shopping at high weight and I only bought things that made me look as good as I could (read: disguised the extra inches well). I kept clothing in 3 sizes that I wore the most and I liked the most so if I gained anything back I had something to wear without investing in new fat clothes. How discouraging! I kept only pants because I absolutely hated shopping for them. Just one box in the storage area of my home with a few pairs of casual to dressy slacks, a pair of jeans, and shorts and workout clothing in a range of sizes. My thought was that if I needed bigger tops I could find inexpensive items that would give my wardrobe a refreshed look with the current fashion and put them with my neutral pants. I didn't have any nice dressy clothes but if I had something that I would wear again despite changes in fashion I would have probably kept at least one or two as a backup.

And yes, I did gain some of the weight back from hitting my goal weight two years ago and then gaining back 15 pounds, and had to get some of them back out but most of them are put away again, as I am down a size again, nearly 2.

I have done the same thing with weight fluctuation back up. I kept some of the basics, the really nice classic things that I can wear no matter what the season or current fashion. It is fun to be fitting back into those things again.

At this point, I also believe that some fluctuation in weight and size may be part of getting older (I am 47) and so having basics in a couple of sizes works best for me.